Easter Eggs
by JunoInferno
Summary: Even Time Babies like Easter, what happens when they maybe have too much chocolate? Some Easter fluff. Part of the Regarding Mrs Smith ficverse.


Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who. So, this is again in the Regarding Mrs Smith ficverse and just how I thought Time Babies might celebrate Easter. Happy Easter, happy reading and let me know what you think!

* * *

"Zara!," called Donna.

She glanced back. Zara had once again stopped to eye another display. Chloe was with Geoffrey in the double pushchair and lately Zara had insisted she was ready to be on her own. Well, not really on her own, just not in the pushchair. Donna hated it. The Doctor insisted it was purely natural developmental behavior and thus, she was walking on her own today while Donna hunted through Harrod's for a gift for Wilfred. Better here than some alien planet.

"Zara, come on," said Donna. "You've got to stay with Mummy."

"What's that?," Zara asked a sales clerk, pointing at a sign. Donna doubled back as Zara was clearly ignoring her.

"Oh," said the clerk, looking at the poster. She turned back to Zara smiling. "That's a special egg hunt we're having for Easter. Find all the clues and use the secret password at the gate upstairs in Toy Kingdom and you could get a special Easter hamper of sweets."

"Sweets?," asked Zara. "Can I do it?"

The clerk smiled. "You can try, but it might be better to suited to older children. Or your mum can help."

"I'm clever," said Zara. She looked at Donna. "Aren't I, Mummy?"

"Yes, of course, Zara, but we've got to find a gift for granddad, don't we?"

"It won't take me long, I promise," said Zara. She took the sheet from the clerk. "Allons-y!"

Donna reluctantly followed Zara upstairs and into Toy Kingdom. She was darting around, scribbling clues and generally turning into her father. It was starting to weird Donna out a bit.

"Oh, yes!," she shouted.

"Zara, we've really got to be going," said Donna.

"Finished!," shouted Zara as she ran to the magic gate.

Donna wrinkled her forehead. "You finished it already?"

Zara put in the password on a special computer and there was a display congratulating her. Another clerk walked over.

"Well done, young lady." She handed Zara a card. "You'll just have to have your mum enter your details and we'll contact you if you win the drawing for the hamper."

"If I win?," asked Zara. She looked plaintively at Donna.

"Yes," said the clerk, looking to Donna. "Everyone who finds the password gets entered in the drawing."

"Well, Zara," said Donna, "We'll just fill out the card and maybe you'll get lucky."

"But I did it quickest!," Zara protested. She pointed at the other children engaged in the egg hunt. "I found all one hundred and eleven! Look! He hasn't even seen the one just above the lift!"

"Zara, it's to give everyone a chance," said Donna.

"But I did it best!," said Zara.

"Zara Katherine Smith-Noble," said Donna sternly, "I'm not going to have all this whining from you. It's the rules of the game. You have to abide by them same as everyone."

Zara looked down, clearly pouting. She looked up at her denied prize: a hamper with a stuffed bunny, lamb and chicks and gleaming gold chocolates.

"Look, I'm going to fill out the card," said Donna. "If you win, you win. If not, I'm sorry."

"I just don't understand what sort of hunt doesn't have anything at the end," Zara grumbled. "I did it best."

"It's easier for you," Donna let slip out.

"What?," asked Zara.

"Come on," said Donna trying to bury her mistake. "We have to be looking for Granddad's present anyway."

* * *

Zara walked into her nursery on the TARDIS to find Chloe and Geoffrey were already waiting.

"I'm glad you could all join me," said Zara.

"What?," asked Chloe.

"At Harrod's I didn't win an Easter hamper even though I was the best."

Chloe frowned. Geoffrey tossed a Gallifreyan letter sphere.

"What?"

"I've been doing research and I've found enough egg hunts for us to all have chocolate."

"Chocolate?," asked Geoffrey. He had begun speaking a handful of English words in addition to his Gallifreyan vocabulary, Mummy, Daddy, the names of his family, doggie, blue, banana and chocolate.

"Lots of chocolate," said Zara.

"How?," asked Chloe.

"We'll go places and just find it," said Zara. "I've rang them all and gotten the rules and which ones had good sweets. Also, there's one at a zoo. We only get one Cadbury egg, but they have bunnies you can pet."

"Mummy doesn't let us have lots of chocolate," said Chloe.

"I've already planned for that," said Zara.

* * *

The Doctor looked up from the console to see Zara and Chloe standing nearby. Geoffrey was still crawling towards him, but had stopped to stare up.

"What is it?," asked the Doctor.

"Daddy, doesn't Mummy have to help Gran tomorrow?"

"Yes," said the Doctor. He grimaced. "Something to do with her hosting Easter luncheon for the whole family."

"Do we have to?," asked Zara. "It's just some of my friends are hunting for Easter eggs..."

"You said chocolate," said Chloe.

"Shh!," said Zara. She looked back towards the Doctor with her most puppy dog eyes. "So, could we? Do you think you could take us?"

The Doctor smiled. "I don't see why not! I went on an Easter egg hunt once, you know, only it was actually the Easter bunny inside."

"Thank you, Daddy!," said Zara, throwing her arms around him.

* * *

"Look at you," said Donna, watching as the Doctor put together all the necessary pieces for a day out with the children. "Proper outing with just Daddy and the children. Do you think you know how to be normal?"

"I can do normal," the Doctor assured her. "Watch me."

"Okay, well, promise me if there's an alien attack or something you'll ring me to collect them."

"I promise."

"Now, I've put enough bottles to get Geoffrey through until supper. There's bananas, yogurt melts and crackers for the girls-"

"What about me?," asked the Doctor.

Donna rolled her eyes. "Yes, there's bananas for you as well. There's no drinks and try to get them something healthy at lunch. Tomorrow my granddad's going to spoil them with sweets, I just know it."

"I have given children lunch before, Donna," said the Doctor.

"Oh, please, one look of Zara's puppy dog eyes- which are yours, by the way- and you're passing out cake for breakfast."

"It has eggs, Donna. Flour. Sometimes fruit."

"Alright, then," said Donna. "Have fun!"

* * *

Zara had directed the doctor to the zoo first and they made their way around the exhibits, looking for the clues to get them their Cadbury egg. He noticed after they left the zoo, though, Zara had kicked into high gear. They went to the Museum of Childhood and one great mansion after another, every one with an egg hunt on.

The Doctor watched as Zara and Chloe made their way around the fourth Georgian mansion they had been in looking for eggs.

"Is the entire National Trust laden with chocolate eggs this time of year?," asked the Doctor.

"Here!," said Zara, depositing another cache of sweets with Geoffrey. The girls had given him a hamper provided by the TARDIS for the task, which meant it was bigger on the inside, meaning the Doctor had lost track of how much chocolate there had been. Chloe added another two fistfuls.

"Sir?"

The Doctor looked up to see one of the house's docents. She was smiling nervously.

"Yes, hello! How can I help you?," he said cheerfully.

"Your children are sort of taking all the eggs."

The Doctor frowned. "It's an egg hunt."

"Yes, but there won't be any left for the other children."

"So, they're supposed to come to an egg hunt, but not find too many? Does that strike you as a bit odd?"

"Yes, but I've never seen children find this many. Your baby found six."

"He's a clever baby," said the Doctor.

"Are you sure you're not helping them?"

"Of course not!," said the Doctor. "Besides, if I was helping them, I would have pointed the two you put on the mantel, the one just inside the door of the grandfather clock and the ones you've painted to blend in with the wallpaper."

"Thanks, Daddy!," said Zara, darting off.

"Sir, I think you should leave."

"Are you tossing us out of an Easter egg hunt? I haven't been this badly treated since the first Easter and a whole Roman legion was after me then! Still don't know where that grail went! I tried retracing my steps, it's just not there and now there's a falafel stand where I thought I left it."

"Sir, I will call the police if I have to."

"Fine!," said the Doctor. "We don't want your sweets anyway!"

"Yes, we do," said Chloe.

"Okay, yes, we do," said the Doctor. "So, yes, we will leave, but any eggs we see on the way out we're taking!"

"That's not really leaving."

"I'm the Doctor, these are my children and we are getting our Easter eggs!"

A half hour later, they had finally been herded out of the house with new additions to their loot.

"Alright, where next?," asked the Doctor.

"Kew Gardens," said Zara.

The Doctor looked down at Zara, noticing for the first time she had a map. "You made a map?"

"Yes," said Zara.

"Daddy, can we have some of our sweets?," asked Chloe. "I'm hungry."

"I'm supposed to give you lunch somewhere," said the Doctor.

"Daddy, if we stop they might run out of chocolate," said Zara.

"Well, I suppose we should keep moving then," said the Doctor. "Okay, everyone have a Cadbury egg. It's like an egg, isn't it?"

"Yes," agreed Zara.

"Yes," Chloe chimed in.

Donna walked back in the house after an exhausting day helping her mother sort the house.

"I'm home!," said Donna.

She was a little surprised when the Doctor was the first to bound over to her. "Donna! Donna, Donna, Donna! Did you know Donna means lady? Donna the Temp! Tempus Donna! Donna, did you know that's Latin for Time Lady! The Ood must have seen it all along! Or the Romans! Maybe the Ood are Roman! Maybe their translator balls speak Latin! The question is when did Romans learn to program Ood translator balls?"

"Nice to see you, too," Donna said cautiously. "Where are the kids?"

"Oh, we're in the hallway, making a replica of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel."

Donna laughed. "No, really."

"Well, it's not to scale, obviously and blimey, did we have a time with the scaffolding, but nothing we couldn't manage. Have you ever seen Chloe use a hammer, Donna? She is good."

Donna frowned and walked in the hallway and straight into...

Scaffolding. She looked up to see Chloe and Zara on top of it making a reproduction of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

"Hi, Mummy!," they chimed together.

"We're painting!," said Chloe.

"We couldn't get frescoes, so we went to Homebase! Have you ever been to Homebase?!," Zara said.

"We were asked to leave!," added Chloe.

"We made our own scaffolding!"

"We went to IKEA! Have you ever been to IKEA?"

"They have ice cream! And flat pack furniture! Have you ever had flat pack furniture?!"

"We just took some and built it wrong to make scaffolding!"

Donna looked to Geoffrey who had managed to get painted handprints on Esther.

"Oh, my God!," said Donna. She picked up Esther and turned to the Doctor. "What is going on?!"

"Oh, handprints! Good for identification!," said the Doctor. "If Esther gets lost, they can use Geoffrey's handprints to get her home!"

"Doctor, what is going on?!"

"What do you mean what's going on? We went out for the day, we went egg hunting, then to Homebase, then IKEA, came back here and decided to make a not to scale replica of the Sistine Chapel."

Donna leaned forward to look just above the Doctor's mouth. "You have chocolate on your face."

"Do I?," asked the Doctor, sticking his tongue out. "Where is it?"

"How much chocolate did you have?," asked Donna.

"Oh, blimey, that's a question. Did you know chocolate dates back to the Ancient Americas? There was this one time I was with the Aztecs and this woman fancied me, meanwhile Barbara was playing god, Ian and I almost drowned in a tunnel-"

"Doctor, focus!," said Donna.

"Focus? I'm focused! That's me, focused, focused, focused. Fooo-cused," he said drawing it out as he bounced from foot to foot. "Wait, I'm not even sure I was in that tunnel. I hate getting wet."

"How much?"

"Well, that would be a question of numbers, wouldn't it and what are numbers anyway? Are they real or does our believing in them make them real?"

"Doctor, what have you always told me about Time Lords and chocolate?"

"What's to know? It's delicious."

"Not that the stimulant effects tend to exacerbate your natural tendencies towards hyperactivity so you should only be given it in small doses?"

"Well, there's that..."

"Did you eat anything but chocolate all day?"

"Geoffrey had his bottles. Don't know why you didn't send enough for everyone!," the Doctor said, looking offended.

"Because it's breast milk!," she snapped.

"Oh, right..."

"Everyone off the scaffolding!," Donna shouted.

"But Mummy-" the girls whined in unison.

"Off the scaffolding!"

* * *

The next day, Donna dragged the children and the Doctor to church with the family and back to Sylvia's. They quickly became the talk of the family given their state.

"Alright," Sylvia hissed, "what's he done? I know it's something alien. Why are he and the children looking like that?"

"It's a long story, Mum," said Donna.

"What then?"

"They ate too much chocolate."

"Do I look stupid to you?"

"It's just a chocolate hangover. Time Lords get them."

"They look awful!"

"Do you have any idea how much noise you're making?!," the Doctor shouted from the sitting room.

Donna walked back in the sitting room. The Doctor and the children had succeeded in scaring off the entire extended family. The curtains were drawn and the four had sunglasses on.

She wasn't certain where Geoffrey had gotten sunglasses.

"The light hurts my eyes," said Zara as Donna opened the door.

"So bright..." Chlose added.

"We're eating," said Donna.

The Doctor groaned. "How can you possibly talk about food?"

"You know, my family thinks you lot are in heroin withdrawal."

"Donna, this is no time to talk about heroin," said the Doctor. "I hate flowers."

"Stupid flowers," said Zara.

"I still don't know why you had to have so much chocolate," said Donna.

"Don't be ridiculous, Donna," said the Doctor. "It was there!"

"Because I found it," said Zara. "And you can't stop me."

"I didn't say-"

"Why don't I get chocolate? Just because it's easier for me?!," Zara snapped.

"Zara, stop yelling," said the Doctor.

"Yes, watch your tone," said Donna.

"No, I just meant stop yelling," said the Doctor. "Whisper."

"You all are impossible," Donna grumbled.

She stepped back in the hallway, completely frustrated.

"Donna," said Wilf.

She turned to see her grandfather. "Oh, Gramps, they'll be fine. Just a bit of a chocolate hangover."

"I think you were too hard on them."

Donna was in shock. "What?"

"You used to love Easter egg hunts," said Wilf. "You had quite the sweet tooth, still do."

"It's not the same for them, Gramps. They're Time Lord. They can find anything. Some sort of heightened sense of smell and sight and chocolate's not good for them-"

"They don't know they're not like other children."

"What?"

"They don't know they have heightened senses. It's the only senses they've ever had. Zara doesn't know she's cleverer than everyone else. She doesn't know any different. You're the one who seems to think they're strange."

"I don't think they're strange- okay, sometimes I do- but I love them more than anything. I'd do anything for them."

"I know you would."

"I just want them to have a normal life... sometimes. They were up the walls on chocolate, Gramps. Literally."

"Have you even given them their Easter baskets?"

"Well, no, I-" Donna froze. "Oh, God. I'm a horrible mother."

Wilf smiled. "Of course you're not, sweetheart. Just take them home and give them their treats."

Donna gave Wilf a hug. "Thank you, Gramps."

* * *

Donna dragged four Time Lords with chocolate hangovers home. They immediately crashed into the sitting room ending up in the sitting room in the same state they had been in Sylvia's, only Esther was crashed among them, the last remnants of pink handprints still visible on the white fur of her coat. She went upstairs to where she had hidden the children's baskets in the airing closet and went back down to her strung out Time Lords.

"Children," said Donna, "I went upstairs and found these. The Easter Bunny must have mislaid them."

Zara pulled up her sunglasses and peered at the contents. "You said we couldn't have chocolate."

"Well, I don't want you having too much," said Donna. "Look, though, the Easter Bunny's brought all sorts of treats. Bananas, Jelly Babies, toys, even a new film."

The children still eyed her skeptically. Donna put them on the tea table, feeling as if she was dealing with a skittish dog.

"Alright, what's your plan?," asked the Doctor.

Donna frowned. "I'm sorry?"

He narrowed his eyes. "The baskets. What's behind all this?"

"Would you stop talking to me like I'm a Pyrovile or a giant spider?"

"Why should I?," he said accusingly.

Donna sighed and grabbed him a Cadbury egg out of Zara's basket. She put it in his hand. "Here."

"What?"

"Hair of the dog. Only hangover cure I know. Besides, having you lot hopped up again is still better than this." She looked at the children. "Look, Mummy was wrong and yes, Zara, it is stupid of Harrod's to make you go on an egg hunt and not give you anything at the end and I'm sorry you didn't win the hamper even though you did the hunt quickest and found all the eggs."

"Oh, this is good," said the Doctor, suddenly perking up. "Sorry, what were we talking about?"

"Are you all going to take your baskets or shall I find some other children?"

"No," said the girls, lunging at the tea table for their baskets. The Doctor took Geoffrey's and sat next to the baby showing him the little toys.

Esther stared expectantly up at Donna.

"I've not forgotten you," said Donna. She walked to the mantel and took down a brand new rawhide and tossed it. Esther ran in pursuit. She looked back at her family. "Happy Easter."

"Happy Easter, Mummy," said Zara.

Donna sat down next to her girls and took a packet of Cadbury buttons.


End file.
